Gatwick's annual passenger count reached more than 34 million for the first time last month.

The airport handled an 8.8 per cent increase in passengers during December, reaching its highest number of passenger traffic.

Figures were released as BAA said its UK airports handled 10.9 million passengers in December, a 1.6 per cent rise on the previous year.

The improvement came despite each of BAA's seven UK airports being affected by the foggy conditions in the traditionally busy week before Christmas.

The airport company, which is now owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, estimates the loss in traffic handled was about 175,000 passengers or 1.7 per cent of the expected total, according to a trading update.

Domestic services were the worst affected by the bad weather, with traffic down 5.8 per cent for the month.

In terms of individual airports, the disruption hit Heathrow most, with traffic down 2.4 per cent for December.

Across the group, BAA's UK airports handled 147.7 million passengers in 2006, an increase of 2.3 per cent on 2005.